Acquisition of a Raman Spectrometer for Undergraduate Research

这笔拨款为科学院本科生研究购置拉曼光谱仪提供支持。Coe在物理和化学方面有一个非常成功的本科研究项目，最近成为NSF REU在光谱学方面的一个站点。拉曼系统不仅将补充我们大量的研究设备基础，而且还将为将这种光谱学纳入物理和化学课程提供新的机会。拉曼系统将使玻璃科学、光学和环境化学的研究工作成为可能。项目包括确定新型玻璃的结构，包括碱和铅钒酸盐，以及铋酸锂；研究了光敏硅酸铅玻璃在激光照射下的结构变化，分析了激光从玻璃表面解吸的上层结构单元，并对激光电离飞行时间质谱仪的结果进行了验证；测量玻璃的光学碱度，研究暴露在腐蚀环境中的材料的结构变化，特别是气相中的物质；研究表面结合铁在硝基芳香族化合物还原中的作用，通过监测电极中氧化铁的转化，并通过表征配体与表面铁离子的结合；以及含铁矿物表面氧化还原反应的研究。Coe是第二年主办NSF本科生研究经验（REU）网站，旨在招收来自小型学院的学生，通常来自农村地区，这些学院很少或根本没有研究机会。该网站的科学重点是光谱学，涵盖光学、材料科学、声学、气相化学、环境化学和化学合成等领域。Coe从事物理和化学研究的30多名本科生将在他们的工作中使用该仪器。对于Coe学生来说，该仪器不仅是一个研究工具，而且是整个课程中全面接触光谱学的一部分。拉曼系统将完全整合到各种课程及其相应的实验室中，为研究生提供拉曼理论和操作方面的培训，并向所有学生开放。这些课程包括材料物理与化学、玻璃与化学高级实验、光学和物理化学。我们注意到，Coe的基于光谱的REU网站旨在为来自小型学院（通常是农村）的学生提供研究机会，他们没有机会做实际的、可发表的工作。因此，我们必须保持一个更新的，广泛的，研究级的仪器基础，使我们能够培养这些REU学生在光谱领域。

This grant provides support for the acquisition of a Raman spectrometer for undergraduate research at Coe College. Coe has a very successful undergraduate research program in physics and chemistry, which has recently become an NSF REU site in Spectroscopy. The Raman system will not only complement our substantial base of research equipment, but also provide new opportunities for the incorporation of this kind of spectroscopy in the physics and chemistry curriculum. The Raman system will allow research work in glass science, optics, and environmental chemistry. Projects include the determination of the structure of novel glasses, including alkali and lead vanadates, and lithium bismuthates; investigations of changes in the structure of photosensitive lead silicate glasses upon laser irradiation, to analyze superstructural units desorbed from glass surfaces by laser light, and to check results obtained using a laser ionization time of flight mass spectrometer; measurements of the optical basicity of glasses, and to investigations of changes in the structure of materials that have been exposed to corrosive environments, especially species in the gas phase; studies of the role of surface bound iron in the reduction of nitroaromatic compounds, by monitoring the transformation of iron oxides in electrodes, and by characterizing ligand binding to iron ions on the surface; and studies of the redox reactions at iron-containing mineral surfaces.Coe is in its second year hosting an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site, designed to recruit students from small colleges, often from rural settings, that have little or no opportunities for research. The scientific emphasis of the site is on spectroscopy, covering the areas of Optics, Materials Science, Acoustics, Gas Phase Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, and Chemical Synthesis. Over thirty undergraduate students involved in physics and chemistry research at Coe will make use of this instrument for their work. For the Coe students, the instrument will not only be a research tool, but also part of a comprehensive exposure to spectroscopy throughout the curriculum. The Raman system will be fully integrated into a variety of courses and their corresponding labs, providing training in Raman theory and operation for research students and exposure to all pupils. These courses include Materials Physics and Chemistry, Advanced Labs in Glass and in Chemistry, Optics, and Physical Chemistry. We note that Coe's spectroscopy-based REU site is designed to provide research opportunities for students from small colleges, often rural, who do not have the chance to do hands-on, publishable work. It is therefore essential that we maintain an updated, broad, research-grade instrumentation base to enable us to train these REU students in the field of spectroscopy.